Tuesday, Mar. 07, 2006

Kennewick Man graces Time cover

By Anna King, Herald staff writer

Framed by Time magazine's iconic red border, Kennewick Man sports dark-hair, a deep tan and an intense-looking gaze.

A Mid-Columbia river and mountains are visible over his shoulder.

An artist's illustration of what the 9,000-year-old man might have looked like in the flesh appears on the cover of the national news magazine's March 13 issue.

The magazine's focus on the skeleton comes less than two weeks after scientists re-vealed some of their findings from studying the bones at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Forensic Scientists in Seattle.

Time's story explores what Kennewick Man might teach scientists about the earliest Americans and a discussion of who should own the bones.

The magazine explores new theories on how people populated North and South America, including whether the land bridge theory is out-of-date and out-of-touch.

Time also covers how Native Americans and scientists have fought for 10 years for control of the bones. Tribal members believe the skeleton is an ancestor who should be reburied, not studied.

While the magazine had yet to arrive Monday at Tri-City stores, the articles were posted Sunday on Time's Web site. Only subscribers can access the full text.

Already, Time's coverage is driving interest in the topic and setting records on the Herald's Kennewick Man Web site, said Andy Perdue, the Herald's interactive media director.

The Herald launched the kennewick-man.com site in 1997. It features about 260 stories, as well as photos, video, a timeline and legal documents related to the historic find by two college kids who stumbled over the skull during the hydroplane races on the Columbia River.

On Sunday, the Web site had 5,000 page views, or eight times as much traffic as Saturday. And as of Monday night the site had received nearly 3,000 page views.

Of the Herald Web site's 14 million page views last year, kennewick-man.com accounted for 285,000.